Raytracey

Season 4 of unforgotten is 🤌🤌🤌 Incredible viewing Nicola Walker is incredible, whole cast is tbh

Little (it’s long, I won’t lie) FWB love fest incoming ….. Initiating our FWB (friends with benefits) program was absolutely utterly terrifying. Who'd cough up 10k to prepay in vouchers for a space that was essentially a raggedy building site, a unit with a couple of restaurant casualties already under its belt and at that stage was just a pipe dream in the middle of lockdowns The industry sneered a bit when it was announced Deep down I know they did, expecting the FWB idea to fall flat on its face. It got serious mocking and probably fairly so But my pockets were empty. We really needed it ….. so we went for it and I knew it was a very smart initiative As always, my stance was, "Feck it, we'll figure it out, be grand, I’m building that terrace” full on juggernaut mode It’s worked better than I could have ever imagined The FWBs are a wild bunch, they did it They got it, they loved it, they backed it thinking I'm nuts but loving the concept of being ballsy and many of them started out with nothing, so they knew the drill They're a bit mental, too, to be honest. I love them As the project expanded, I needed advice, guidance , help, I definitely needed help. Sometimes I needed a good barking sometimes a few motivating words But suddenly had this kickass extremely knowledgeable FWB army generously sharing some serious wisdom that I absorbed and slurped up like a sponge. Over the past year, I've learned finance and figured, laws and negotiations, gained business manners, had hugs off them on bad days, milled pints on good , delved deep into opportunities from this incredible group They’ve changed my life That nerve-wracking weekend 18 months ago when Gillian Nelis did the Business Post article initially ? I didn't sleep for days. Not a wink. Terrified But the support and capital poured in The beauty of this was essentially borrowing at a negative interest rate. The dream ! 500k, 0%, guaranteed turnover and GP when the vouchers are redeemed But now it’s become so much more than that as they support and guide me in a million ways more than that 10k Many FWBs are now real friends and consiglieres. They understood flooding us with the vouchers wouldn’t help….Four of them that I know well have never even entered Big Mike's, (probably barred in fairness), eight have visited but never ever used a single voucher. The rest? They use them so sporadically and fairly, but the real true value is the bond and trust we've formed over the last year Doors are opening that were never there I won’t lie, it was absolutely terrifying doing this from the offset, nauseatingly so—I was in bits, felt so so isolated at the start ….. it can be a lonely place at the coalface, even with the most amazing staff, as the buck stops with you But now here we are They’ve changed my life, all thanks to a little hare-brained idea formed over a pint with CC. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express my full gratitude, nor would they want it. But I just want to say thanks to our FWBs (with a long winded, rambling tweet as per my MO 🥴) it’s what I do best 🥴 I’ll most definitely be hitting them up for more capital after this 🥴🤣 If you believe in something Don’t take no for an answer, ignore the sneering Go for it Love yis and thank you Unbarred